It is so unnaturally cold in Washington State this December that I can believe that, in long past years, the Columbia River actually froze over in places. A barge operator told me about having to park his barge at a private shore near The Dalles in Eastern Washington until the river thawed out. Hard to believe but temperatures in northwest Washington have been hovering in the 20s instead of 45 or so. The book, The Columbia River, traces the development of the barge traffic on the river. During Depression (1930s) days the barges delivered fuel to eastern Washington ports more cheaply than  sending it by roads. Barges also hauled grain from the verdant grain fields of eastern Washington downriver to ocean ships.

The farmers found a curious way of delivering grain to the barges. They and shipping companies built slides down the steep cliffs along the river and sent the grain to the barges or sternwheelers (before them). However, the first uses sent the grain screaming down the slopes so fast that it literally arrived scorched at the bottom. Designers had to build baffles to slow down the descent.